Silk-reeling apparatus



Nov. 5, 1929. J. A. SCHEIBLI- 1,734,305

' SILK REELING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 18,-1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS Nov. 5, 1929. J. A. SCHEIBLI 1,734,305

' SILK REELING APPARATUS I Filed Aug. 18, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 64 I I I PM ATTORNEYS I the Patented ov. 5,

JOHN A. SGHEIBLI, OF JACKSON HEIGHTS, NEW YORK SILK-BEELING APEABATUS Application filed August 18, 1927. Serial No. 213,748.

My invention relates to reeling silk from cocoons, which up to the present time, owing to the ex ense attendant upon the method employed, has never been practiced in this 5 country.

7 As is well known, the cocoons are placed in a basin of very hot water, usually ap proximately 170, and the silk fibres from a number of cocoons, say ten, are led together thread thus formed is carried through a porcelain eye, over a plurality of porcelain or metal-rollers is given a'twist, and is then wound upon a reel. As the cocoon threads are very delicate, they frequently break, also, in time a cocoon becomes exhausted; then the operator feeling girl) must dip her fingers into the ot Water to withdraw the detached or exhausted cocoon, replace it by another which is taken from a supply which has been prepared, and thread it onto the others.

As such breakages occur very firequently, an

operator is kept very busy tending to the severalthreads reeled from one basin.

My invention .has for its object to provide 5 purely automatic means to care for the replacement of detached cocoons by previously .prepared new and partly used cocoons in alternate rotation and also to add at will any number of new orpartly used cocoons by purely mechanical means set in motion by p the touch of the hand.

For the purpose of illustrating the utilization of my invention, I have furnished certain drawings, which are hereunto annexed and are a part of this specification, which are more or lessdiagrammatic, but which will be sulficient to illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, though it will be understood that the details may be widely varied, and the drawings are furnished for illustrative purpose only, and not in any sense for the purpose ofconfining or limiting me to the specific construction illustrated. In the drawings- 1 is a top or plan view of one form of apparatus embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the machine; 50, Fig. 3 is a side view of the same;

the cocoons of the two conveyer-s 8 and 9.

Fig. 4 is an axial-sectional view of, the driving mechanism for the conveyors.

Fig. 5 is an illustration showing the electrical mechanism. I i

As shown in the drawings, I have a basin 1. Suspended above the basin and mounted on an arm 2 extended from its base 3 is a conduit 4, below the entrance of the conduit 4 is an eye 5 and just above the entrance I mount a rotatable brush 6 provided with bristles 7 suitable to catch a cocoon end, when the latter is moved to touch it. This brush 6 may be rotated by any desired means (not shown) suitable for that purpose.

Adjacent the conduit 4 I mount two parallel conveyers 8 and 9 which are formed of a series of compartments 10 and 11, each mounted upon two wheels 12 and 13-14-. and 15. Each of these compartments 10 and 11 is adapted to receive a cocoon which has been previously prepared by brushing to have its starting end caught. Back of the basin 1 about the length of the conveyers distant from the conduit 4 I mount the short pole 16 which is, provided with a hook 17 for fastening the endsfrom the cocoons carried by the inner conveyer 9., 1 Between the short ole 16 and the basin 1 and somewhat furt er distant from the conveyers 8 and 9 I mount the long ole 18 which is provided with a hook 19 to' hold the ends of the cocoons carried by the outer conveyer 8. One of the conveyers 8 or 9 carries the new cocoons and the other the partly used cocoons, the forward motion of which keeps their ends which are fastened to-the poles 16 and 18 taut at all times and prevents them from getting entangled. The different. heights of the poles 16 and 18 and their hooks 17 and 19 keep the ends ofseparated in two layers.

The wheel 14 of the inner conveyer 9 is mounted on a solid shaft 20 which runs inside acylindricalshaft 21 on which is mounted the wheel 12 of the outer conveyer 8. Both the solid shaft 20 and the cylindrical shaft 21 run independently of each other.

A wheel 22 is mounted on the cylindrical -shaft 21 is driven by a driving wheel 23 retated by suitable power 27, this wheel 23 is mounted on shaft 24. 7

Another wheel 25 is mounted on the solid shaft 20, is driven by a driving wheel 26,

, clutches 30 and 31 on the driving shaft 24.

' Water is The momentary setting of thetwo pairs of clutches 28 and 31 is actuated by two solenoids 33 and 34 which work independently from each other whenever a circuit is formed in either.

Above the upper end of the conveyers I mount a hot water inlet 35 which pours water from asuitable source of supply (not shown) into the compartments 10 and- 11 of both conveyers which water eventually drops into the basin ,1. Another inlet 36 of hot water which is the main one to the basin is placed in front of a baflie plate'37 which directs the major portion 38 toward the main outlet 39. The rest of the water passes on the'other side of the baffle plate 37 forming a body of comparatively still water 40, but in which a slight current is maintained by the passage of'the more swiftly flowing water 38 in the major portion flowing out of the main, outlet 39. In the quieter water 40 are the silk cocoons which are being unwound, the combined fibres from a selected number of which are being led through the eye 5, thence through the conduit 4 and on the reel (not shown). I provide another outlet 41 at the bottom of the basin for sinking cocoons.

The main outlet is provided with a plurality of perforations42 through which the a lowed to escape into the drainage pipe 43. Adjacent to these perforations I mount a chute 44 for the detached cocoons to drop'into. Below the entrance of the chute 44 Imount a tread mill 45 which holds no more than one large'cocoon between each two pedals. This tread mill is rotated by any suitable means (not shown) and receives and drops one. cocoon at a time; In the chute below the tread mill 45 I mount a pointer 46 held horizontally in balance through its center, it is connected electrically and when it drops inside the chute its other end is raised, touches an electrical wire 47 and forms a circuit.

Adjacent to the bottom outlet 41 of the basin, 1, I mount the tread mill 48 which holds also no more than one large cocoon between each openpedals and is rotated by any suitable means (not shown). The perforated wall 49 allows the water to escape into the drainage pipe 50 which leads into drainage pipe '43. Below the perforated wall 491 mount the cocoon chute 51 which is similar to the cocoon chute 44 and is also provided with a pointer 52 similar to pointer 46 and similarly connected and operating noid 54.

trical wire 47 carriesthe circuit caused by},

either one of the two pointers into the sole-v Above the solenoid 54 I fasten the rod 55, a

hinge 56 which permits the rod free vertical I mount the pendulum switch 61 which is shaped in such a way that each time the drop rod 60 drops on it it is moved in the oppo-' site direction from which it has been moved the previous time. In whichever direction the pendulum switch61 is moved it forms a contact with one of the two wires 62 and 63 leading to the clutch solenoids 33 and 34,

and every succeeding circuit formed by both pointers 46 and 42'causes to actuate the other clutch solenoid from the one actuated previously. 1 7

I connect the wires 58, 62 and 63 leading to the clutch solenoids with push buttons 64 and 65 conveniently located so that new or partly A used cocoons can be released at will by merely pushing the respective button.

The reeling operation'is as follows: i Thefibres from the ten unreeling cocoons in the still water 40 of the basin 1 first'pass through the eye 5, toprevent sticky cocoons which sometimes jump farout of the water in unreeling from entering. the conduit 4. The thread composed of these fibres is then led v through the conduit 4-and over a rality of r0llers and wound on the reel not shown).

When one of the ten cocoons is exhausted or a break occurs, so that a fibre therefrom is no longer attached to the thread being reeled, the current in the water 38 carries the waste or free cocoon to the outlet 39, where it falls down the chute 44 which is provided for that Y other direction from which it has been moved by the previous contact and in either position touches one of two wires 62 and 63 connected with the clutch solenoids 33 and 3,4 thus forming a circuit which actuates said solenoid 33 [and thereby depositing a cocoon in the water,

when the current 40 will carry it along until its fibre contacts bristles 7 on the rotating brush 6, which catches the fibre and winds it I about the other fibres composing the thread being reeled, at which time the fiber held by the brush Will break. During'all this time the reeling continues without interruption, and whenever another cocoon is freed from the reeling, through breakage or exhaustion,

the operation just explained is repeated with the difference that this time a cocoon from the other c'onveyer is being released as the two conveyers are always being moved in alternate rotation. a

Means are provided that in the rare cases when detached cocoons sink to the bottom of the basin 1 instead of floating over the main outlet 39 they are being replaced automatically in the same way as cocoons floating over the main outlet 39 and without interrupting the alternate rotation-of replacement of new and partly used cocoons.

A sinking cocoon drops on to tread mill 48, the water with which it dropped escapes through the perforated Wall 49 and runs into the water drainage pipe 50 which runs into the water drainage pipe 43. The cocoon drops into chute 51 provided for this purpose, it

falls on pointer 52 and closes a circuit because the electric wire contactedby the pointer 52 is connected. at its other end with the electrical wire 47 and from thereon the succeeding electrical operations explained before are being repeated.

It may be found desirable, in practice, to employ other devices for the alternate and intermittent movement of the conveyers 8 and 9 which may be done without departing from my invention. For instance, the conveyers may be operated by water, thus requiring no mechanical'driving means.

Although thereis suflicient current in the Water 40 to carry oil the loose cocoons, and to bring another cocoon over close enough for its fiber to be caught by the brush 6 as .described the current must not be so strong as to disturb the cocoons which are'being un- 1 persons skilled in the art, that by. the use of my method and means one operator cancare for a large number of basins, thereby materially reducing the operating expense.

It will furthermore be obvious from the foregoing to persons sln'lled in the'art thatan added feature of automatic reeling by the use of my invention is the superior quality of raw silk obtained by it which equals in importance the labor saving feature because unevenness of the thread is the one defect most dreaded by all consumers of raw silks at all times and yet it is so commonly present that with very few exceptions all the silks reeled by the present method contain constant variations in size amounting up to 50% (and more) of the threads own average size. This alarming spread of unevenness for many years to all grades of raw silks is not so much due to the carelessness ofthe reeling girls as to the fact that for economical reasons more threads are given to the girls to take care of than it is physically possible for them age size. to act as a substitute for one almost always missing, being either on the way out of the basin or on the way coming in from the conveyers, the number of cocoons actually running in the basin is kept practically always right and-is kept always well balanced with an equal number of new cocoons having coarser ends and partly used cocoons having finer ends and all silks thus reeled reach such a high'perfection of 'eveness as is hardly ever attained in the best of silks by the present method of reeling.

Having thus described my invention, what I regard as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination, with a basin having an inlet and an outlet, of a supply of hot water, a plate in said basin which diverts the incoming flow into a rapidly moving body and a slowly moving body, a conduit through which are being led the fibers from cocoons which are being unwound, a-conveyor adjacent said conduit,

al'plurality of compartments on said conveyor,

each compartment being adapted to accommodate successive single cocoons, means adjacent said conduit to engage the fibers ofv said cocoons, electrical means actuated by the passage of a free loose cocoon through the outlet, which causes said conveyor to move to deposit a cocoon into the slowly moving bod of water, rotating means which catches t e fiber of such cocoonand winds it about the thread before it reaches the conduit.

2. .In a device of the character described, the combination with'a basin having an inlet and a surface and bottom outlet, a supply of hot water, a plate in said basin which diverts the incoming flow into a rapidly moving body and aslowly moving body, a conduit through which are being led the fibers from cocoons which are being unwound, a conveyor adja,-'

ply, a plate in said basin which diverts the incoming flow into a rapidly moving body and a slowly moving body, a conduit throng which are being led the fibers from cocoons which are being unwound, a pair of conveyors adjacent said conduit, a plurality of compartments on each conveyor, each compart ment being adapted to accommodate a single cocoon, means adjacent said conduit to engage the fibers of said cocoons, electrical means actuated by the passage of a free loose cocoonthrough said outlets which moves said conveyors alternately and deposits a cocoon into the'slowly moving body of water, rotating means which catches the fiber of such cocoon and winds it about the thread before it reaches the conduit.

4. In a device of the character described,

the combination, with a basin having an inlet and an outlet, of a water supply, means in said basin which diverts the incoming flow into a rapidly moving body and slowly moving body, a conduit throughwhich are being led the fibers from cocoons which are being unwound, conveyors adjacent said conduit, a pluralit of compartments on said conveyors, eac compartment being adapted to accommodate successively a single cocoon, electrically operated means, actuated by the passage of a free loose cocoon through the outlet, which causes said conveyors to move alternately to deposit a cocoon into the slowly moving body of water, rotating means which catches the fiber of such cocoon and winds it about the thread before it reaches the conduit.

5. In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons, an out- -let from the basin through which cocoons becoming detached from the reeling-means may pass, means fon supplying cocoons to the basin, and means in the outlet actuated by a cocoon passing therethrough to operate the cocoon-supplymg-means to deposit a cocoon in the basin.

6. In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons, a plurality of outlets in the basin through which cocoons becoming detached from the reelingmeans may pass, one ofsaid outlets being adapted for partly used cocoons and the other for completely used cocoons, independentlyoperable conveyors for supplying'cocoons to the basin, one of said conveyors being adapted toca'rry partly used cocoons and the-other full cocoons, and means'in the said outlets actuated by the passage of a cocoon therethrough to selectively operate the conveyors,

the 'means in the outlet for the partly used.

cocoons actuating the conveyor containing partly used cocoons and the means in the outlet for entirely used cocoons actuating the conveyor forthe full cocoons.

7 L In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons, an outlet inthe basin through which cocoons be- 7 coming detached from the reeling-means may pass, means for supplying cocoons to the basin, means in the outlet actuated by a cocoon passingtherethrough to operate-the co: coon-supplying means to deposit a single'cocoon in the basin, and means for controlling the movement of the free cocoons 1n the basln whereby a cocoon which has become detached fromthe reeling-means-is directed towardsthe outlet and a cocoon delivered into the basin ,is directed towards the reeling-means.

let with the operating-means for one of the conveyorswhereby said conveyor will be selectively, actuated when a cocoon passes through its respective outlet to' deposit a cocoon in the basin to replace the one passing therefrom, and means for connecting the filaments from the new cocoons with the reelingmeans.

9. In a silk-reeling apparatus, the combination of means for reeling filaments from cocoons, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, a fluid-supply for the basin, a plurality of outlets in the basin, means for directing detachedcocoons toward the outlets, a plurality of cocoon-carrying conveyors, means'for operating the conveyors to deposit in the outlets adapted-to be actuated by cocoons in the basin, means connecting each outinseam coons passing therethrough to energize the electrical-means to successively actuate the conveyors, and means for connecting the filaments from the new cocoons with the reelingmeans. i

10. Ina silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, a fluid-supply for the basin, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons in the basin, means for directing cocoons desposited in the basin toward the reeling-means, and a rotating brush in the path of the cocoons adapted to pick up the ends of the filaments from the cocoons and attach them to the reeling-means.

11. In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons, an outlet in the basin through which cocoons becomingdetached from the reeling-means may pass, means for supplying fresh cocoons to the basin, means actuated by a cocoon passing through the outlet to operate the cocoon-supplying means .to deposit'a fresh cocoon in the basin, and means for manually operating thecocoon-supplying means independently of the passage of cocoons through the outlet.

12. Ina silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reelingthe filaments from the cocoons, a plurality of outlets in the basin through which cocoonsbecoming detached from the reelingmeans may pass, one of the outlets being adapted for the passage of partly used cocoons and the other for completely used cocoons, a plurality of independently-operable conve ors for supplying fresh cocoons to the basin, one of the conveyors being adapted to carry partly used cocoons and the other full cocoons, electrical means for operating the cocoon-supplying means, electrical circuits for the operating-means, and contact-means in the outlets operated by the cocoons passing therethrough to close the circuits to ener-- gize the operating-means.

13. In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons, a plurality of outlets in the basin through which cocoons becoming detached from the reelingmeans may pass, one of the outlets being,

adapted for partly used cocoons and another for entirely used cocoons, a plurality of independently-operable conveyors for supplying cocoons to the basin, one of the conveyors being adapted to carry partly used cocoons and the other full cocoons, operating-means for the conveyors, electrical circuits connecting the cocoon outlets with said operatingmeans,contact-means in the outlets for closing the circuits when acocoon passes therethrough to selectively operate the conveyors,

and means for manually closing the different circuitsinde endently of the passage of cocoons throng the outlets.

reeling the filaments from the cocoons, an outlet in the basin through which cocoons becoming detached from the reeling-means may pass. means for supplying fresh cocoons to the basin, electrically-actuated means for operating the cocoon-supplying means, an electrical circuit connectlng the outlet with the operating-moans for the cocoon-supplying means, and means in the outlet actuated bv the passage of a cocoon therethrough to close the electrical circuit.

15. In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing a plurality of cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the: cocoons, an outlet in the basin through which cocoons becoming detached from the reeling-means may pass, means for supplying fresh cocoons to the basin, electrically-actuated means for operating the cocoon-supplying means, an electrical circuit connecting the outlet with the operating-means for the cocoon-sup lying means, means in the outlet actuate by the passage of a cocoon therethrough to close reeling-means as required, and means for subjecting the cocoons 1n the conveyor-means to a bath to prepare them for unreeling their filaments.

18. In a silk-reeling apparatus, the combination of means for reeling filaments from cocoons, means for supplying cocoons to the reeling-means as the unreeling cocoons are exhausted or their filaments become detached, means for floating the supplied c0- coons to the reeling-means, and means for holding the ends of the filaments from the floating cocoons until they become attached to the reeling-means.

19. In a silk-reeling apparatus, a basin for containing cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons, means for supplying cocoons to the basin, means for actuating the cocoons-supplying means as the un- .ing the cocoons from the supplying means to the reeling-means, means for maintaining the filaments from the new cocoons taut as they float from the supplying-means, and means iao for connecting the filaments from the new cocoons with the filaments being reeled.

20. Ina silk-reeling apparatus, a. basin for containing cocoons, means for reeling the filaments from the cocoons in the basin, means for supplying fluid to the basin, at a plurality of points, a plurality of outlets in the basin through which cocoons becoming detachedfrom the reeling-meansmay pass,

0 means for supplying cocoonsto the basin, means actuated by cocoons passing through the outlets to operate the cocoon-supplying means to deposit new cocoons in the basin, and means for connecting the filaments from 15 the newly supplied cocoons to the reelingmeans.

JOHN SCHEIBLI. 

